CD Audio for me. I don't own a SACD or DVD-Audio player (unless you count my DVD video players and DVD-ROM drives). Plus I can't currently rip music from SACD or DVD-A discs so CD is my choice so I can rip music to put on my iPod.

This one was a no brainer Audio CDs of course, because I could rip it freely and then do whatever I like. It's also not crippled because no lossy scheme is employed like many of the popular online music stores. DVD-Audio, SACD prevent me from ripping the music I own and are thus inferior media.

The only online store I buy from is Magnatune, because they offer FLAC downloads, give 50% of their income to the artists and sell their music with no DRM (they even encourage you to share it).

This post has been edited by atici: Aug 16 2004, 20:16

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The object of mankind lies in its highest individuals.One must have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.

A mix of Vinyl and CDs. Most of my albums are on CD, but in the hardcore/screamo genre lots of bands do Vinyl-only releases (mostly 7"s + 10", sometimes splits with other bands). If a release is available in both formats I usually go for the one with the better layout (or more songs).I'm currently looking into buying a new/better turntable and finally rip my stack of vinyl for consumption on my iRiver.

And: Colored Vinyl is just sexier than any CD could ever be. Check out Viva La Vinyl.org for all your collector needs.

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"To understand me, you'll have to swallow a world." Or maybe your words.

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The good old audio CD mastered properly is as good as digital sound needs to be. That is why I own a bunch of them. And some not as nicely mastered ones But ripping is a nice hobby and I like having a bunch of good quality music on my iRiver. I couldn't see myself buying lossy compressed music online. Maybe lossless but then I'd just rather own the CD.

[quote=dev0,Aug 16 2004, 02:17 PM]A mix of Vinyl and CDs. Most of my albums are on CD, but in the hardcore/screamo genre lots of bands do Vinyl-only releases (mostly 7"s + 10", sometimes splits with other bands). If a release is available in both formats I usually go for the one with the better layout (or more songs).I'm currently looking into buying a new/better turntable and finally rip my stack of vinyl for consumption on my iRiver.

I just copied over a vinyl copy of the Flux of Pink Indians release called "The F$ck&ng

C*nts Treat Us Like Pr*cks" You interested in taking it off my hands Dev0?

Well, I'm also buying old good CD-DA!One of the purposes is this cool explanation from r3mix myths section:

CD doesn't have a low enough signal to noise ratio. The new DVD super audio is a huge improvement.Reality check: CD was invented to be perfect sound without waste. The 90db signal to noise and dynamic range provides a noise floor that is lower than you can get from any analog source in the recording studio today. The air current in the room of the recording studio is louder than the noise floor on CD. When you use ANY microphone, you will pick up the room air noise. This means that CD already does a better job than we need it to. I already run into problems where CDs can record sounds too loud for analog equipment to safely amplify. If DVD audio is to be believed, then you could record a dynamic range wide enough to capture a jet engine's loudness. This is not possible to reproduce on current analog equipment without distortion and serious damage to your hearing. Again, CD is perfect. Current recordings on CD barely use any dynamic range. Most modern music has a "compressed" dynamic range. Constantly loud and rarely uses a sound below -15db on the level meter. This is a mastering problem. The mastering engineers master modern music for radio play to get their song louder than their competitors so people will pay attention when their song comes on. Take any 1980's or early 1990's CD and put it in your CD player, then listen to the volume. Now take a modern rock or pop music CD and play it. The volume of the modern music is always near or at the MAXIMUM peak level possible. The dynamic range squeezed out. Now, simply put in the older 1980's or early 1990's CD and turn up the volume on your stereo. You'll notice how much BETTER the older recordings sound. There is IMPACT in the drums. Details in the sound. It's more realisitic sounding overall. The older (but still modern) recordings are easier on your ears at louder volume and seem more natural. This is how the CD medium sounds at its best. Do not listen this way on PC or boombox speakers. You need a decent stereo or good headphones to hear the difference.

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Sorry for my poor English, I'm trying to get better... ;)"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled, was convincing the world he didn't exist."

how do u make a guess like that?anyway i think ur wrong at that, cause kotrtim showed surprise at people buying cassettes and dude cassettes still sell more than any other audio media here in india. it is not much of a surprise considering a cassette still costs 1/4th the price an audio cd.kotrtim would be aware of that (provided he is really from india, which i think he is not)

i feel like sherlock holmes right now, but only kotrtim can shed more light on this

I buy CD's when I want an album, But I would Buy hybrid SACD if I could find them because they are backwards compatible and eveb thought I don't have a player, I know i'll probably have one one day, shame all new CDs arnt hybrid SACD, If I just want a song and not an album Ill probably get it online, and Somtimes i'll buy classics or single on vinyl.

I've never seen or heard of HDCD, SACD or DVD-A. Hence I've never seen any for sale. The only other media I see at music stores these days is cassettes (though in extremely limited numbers, I don't think they make them anymore)

I sort of know what HDCD, SACD, DVD-A are (slightly higher quality than CD-A, like 24 bit?). But I'm not even sure if they sell them here

If I bought music from online stores (which I don't, not as yet anyway), I'd probably only go for lossless formats. I'd rather pay a little more to get something that's top quality and transcodable